Netflix grabbed 2 million new customers for its U.S. streaming service in Q1

Netflix's first quarter financial earnings report managed to beat analysts' expectations, and it's all thanks to the company's new original series "House of Cards."

For Q1 2013, Netflix posted $1 billion in revenue -- a 17 percent increase from a year earlier. The video streaming company also reported $19 million in net income and adjusted earnings per share of 31 cents. Analysts had previously predicted about 19 cents per share.

Another huge plus in Q1 was subscriber growth. Netflix grabbed 2 million new customers for its U.S. streaming service, bringing the total to 29.2 million. Outside of the United States, Netflix signed 1 million new customers, bringing the worldwide total to 36 million.

Investors were pleased with the surprising results. Many had thought Netflix wouldn't continue growing fast enough to pay for all of its content from major providers like Disney and Warner Bros.

Shares jumped to $216.62 in after-hours trade Monday after closing at $174.37 on NASDAQ.

According to a letter to shareholders, Netflix's new original series "House of Cards" is the reason for the continued subscriber growth.

"The launch of 'House of Cards' provided a halo effect on our entire service," Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings and Chief Financial Officer David Wells said in a letter to shareholders.

"House of Cards" is a political drama series starring Kevin Spacey. The show, which launched February 1, 2013, follows a Democrat from South Carolina's 5th congressional district who was passed up for a job as Secretary of State -- and he gets his revenge on everyone who has wronged him.

I would think that the addition of cartoon network, natgeo, discovery channel shows and on-demand convenience increased subscribers coupled with the absolute hate of cable/satellite providers more than any single show(never seen it).

Honestly even with my large periods of inactivity on Netflix, I don't think I'll ever cancel it. I want to keep supporting services like Netflix in the hope that some day we truly can get rid of cable. All those who think everything should just be free and commercial free do nothing to help in that effort.

getting rid of cable is just a matter of choice for people. You need to just make a choice that you are going to change the way you watch tv and do it. I cut my cable almost 3 years ago and i have no plans to go back. I don't see the value of it. I invested in an HTPC for my living room and both my wife and i see more value in that than channel surfing for an hour only to find that there is nothing worth watching. The one thing that i think could help more people to cut the cord is being able to find out about new programs that i would like to watch and where on the net to find them.

Well, House of Cards is only available on Netflix, so legally, if you wanted to watch that show you'd need to sign up. They marketed the show like crazy, which drove up interest and user subscriptions. Netflix should be kissing Kevin Spacey's ass for funding the show and driving their success.

I am a Netflix subscriber and I view 4-6 hours of content a day for the last 5 months and until this article today I had never heard of this original series. I've watched two episodes of Hemlock Grove but this is news to be I don't think anyone else I know has heard of this Kevin spacey show either.

Actually I work 54-60 hours M-F when I get home I eat, shower, and watch Netflix until I pass out I don't have much energy for anything else. Don't assume someone is unemployed just because TV is how they spend their off time.

So my friend and I watched the first episode last night. So far we like it I intend to continue to see what happens I love Kevin Spacey and the show seems to have a dark side plus the quality is there along side lots of cameos. I don't know how much I like him talking to the camera it reminds me of the wonder years but it's something I can overlook.

Agree with it or not, Netflix has tons of data on this. And they've found a huge number of people subscribing to watch this show. Of course all that other awesomeness you've listed is icing on the cake too :)

And yeah, it's really that good.

Last year on DailyTech it was like attack of the Netflix haters, due to a silly price jump that nobody with any sense would even balk at. I'm glad to see those basement dwellers and doomsayers getting shut up.

Netflix is, hands down, the best streaming service we've had to date. The quality of House of Cards is so far and above what you would expect from a project undertaken by Netflix. It puts most crap on television to shame, honestly.

Actually, theprice bump convinced a lot of people to ditch dvd delivery from their services. I am one of them... I balked at it the price increase because it was an effective doubling when combined with a prior price hike just a few months earlier. Of course, it ended up cutting my netflix bill in half...I dint even notice it anymore.

Well it wasn't just price jumps that shook up Netflix customers and those basement dwellers actually got what they wanted in the end. the streaming and physical dvd rentals didn't split, no company named Quikster ever became a house hold name.And you're right the production value of House Of Cards is through the roof. My friend and I immediately said it seems more like an HBO show than something found on another station let alone Netflix. Hemlock Grove also has high production value especially for being a werewolf show lol

"So, I think the same thing of the music industry. They can't say that they're losing money, you know what I'm saying. They just probably don't have the same surplus that they had." -- Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA